An important turning point has come in the politics of Tamil Nadu. Viduthalai Chiruthigal Katchi (VCK) President Thol Thirumavalavan has announced not to contest from Kattumannarkoil seat in the 2026 assembly elections. His decision has put an end to the ongoing speculations regarding his candidature.

Thol Thirumavalavan said that he had earlier expressed his desire to raise the voice of the deprived communities in the Assembly, but considering the current political situation and the strategy of the alliance, he has decided to step back. He said that he has completed two years as an MP and his long term thinking is to go to the Assembly and become the voice of the oppressed classes.

Public interest given priority

Referring to his political journey, he said that his decisions have always been in public interest and not on the basis of personal ambitions. He also recalled his decision to step down in 2004 and step back in 2006 to give others a chance. Thirumavalavan categorically rejected that he was in the race for the post of Deputy Chief Minister or was making any strategy keeping in mind the situation of a hung assembly. He said that such things are being spread to tarnish his image and weaken the alliance.

Denial of DMK pressure

He clarified that his candidature has not been stopped due to pressure from DMK. He says that seat sharing decisions are taken on the basis of principles of social justice. Thol Thirumavalavan announced that Jyothimani, the younger son of former leader Ilaiyapperumal, would be fielded as the party’s candidate from the Kattumannarkoil seat. He denied any differences of opinion in the party and said that all decisions have been taken with transparency.

Big statement on 2026 elections

He described the upcoming 2026 assembly elections as a decisive battle against right-wing forces in Tamil Nadu. He said that his main aim is to ensure the victory of the DMK-led alliance and he is confident that this alliance will return to power by winning more than 200 seats. Thirumavalavan finally said that he never entered politics for office. According to him, his past sacrifices are the biggest proof of this.

The meeting of the Central Election Committee of the Bharatiya Janata Party was held on 18 March 2026. This meeting was presided over by Nitin Nabin. Other big leaders of the party including PM Narendra Modi, Rajnath Singh and Amit Shah were also present in the meeting. In this meeting, names of 9 candidates have been decided for Puducherry Assembly elections.

A from Mannadipet seat of Puducherry. Namasivayam has been made the candidate. E. Theppanathan has been given ticket from Ossudu (SC) seat. PML from Kalapet seat. Kalyanasundaram has been made the candidate. VP from Raj Bhawan seat. Ramalingam has got a chance. Similarly, A. from Mudaliarpet seat. John Kumar has been declared the candidate. Emblem R from Manaveli seat. Selvam has been given the ticket. GNS from Thirunallar seat. Rajasekaran has been made the candidate.

BJP’s preparation for Puducherry assembly elections
Neeravi-TR TKSM Meenakshisundaram has been made the candidate from Pattinam seat, while A. Dinesh has got the ticket. In this way BJP has further strengthened its preparations for the Puducherry Assembly elections. After the names of the candidates are revealed, the activities related to the elections are likely to intensify further. The election campaign here is going to intensify in the coming days. Voting for the assembly elections in Puducherry will be held on April 9 and the votes will be counted on May 4. Apart from this, assembly elections are also going to be held in West Bengal, Assam, Kerala and Tamil Nadu, the date of which has been fixed. In this regard, different parties have released the names of candidates.

Puducherry Elections BJP released the list of 9 candidates for the upcoming elections in UT.

Puducherry Home Minister A. Namassivayam will contest from Mannadipet. pic.twitter.com/amOaUEXCaS

— ANI_HindiNews (@AHindinews) March 21, 2026

Also read: US Iran War: Did America ask for military help from India? Foreign Ministry checked the facts and told the whole truth

The opposition has suffered a major setback in the Rajya Sabha elections. Voting for 11 Rajya Sabha seats took place on Monday (16 March 2026). During this period, voting took place on 5 seats in Bihar, 4 in Odisha and two in Haryana. In Bihar and Odisha, opposition parties were not successful in keeping their MLAs united, which benefited NDA. There were 6 candidates in the fray for 5 seats in Bihar. Of these, 5 candidates were from NDA and one candidate was from the opposition alliance Grand Alliance.

NDA won all 5 seats. The winning candidates include Nitish Kumar, Nitin Nabin, Ramnath Thakur, Upendra Kushwaha and Shivesh Ram. 41 votes were required to win the Rajya Sabha elections. NDA has 202 MLAs in the 243-member assembly, due to which it was falling short of 3 votes for the 5th seat. The Grand Alliance had 35 MLAs and needed 6 additional votes to win.

Opposition candidate AD Singh got a shock

Opposition candidate AD Singh was expected to win after the support of 5 AIMIM MLAs and one Bahujan Samaj Party MLA, but at the last moment, 4 opposition MLAs, including 3 Congress and 1 RJD MLA, did not turn up to cast their votes. After there was no decision in the first preference votes, the second preference was counted, in which BJP’s Shivesh Ram won. After this, the Grand Alliance accused BJP of intimidation and horse-trading of MLAs.

Election changed due to cross voting in Odisha

In Odisha, 5 candidates were in the fray for 4 seats and 30 votes were required for victory. Here BJP’s Manmohan Samal and Sujit Kumar won. Santrup Mishra of Biju Janata Dal was also successful in winning. The biggest upset happened when BJP-backed independent candidate Dilip Ray also won. In the 147-member assembly, BJD and Congress had enough votes to make their joint candidate Datteshwar Hota win, but 8 MLAs of BJD and 3 of Congress went against the party line and cross-voted in favor of Dilip Ray. After this, Naveen Patnaik accused BJP of horse-trading and talked about action against rebel MLAs.

BJP and Congress one seat each in Haryana

Voting was held for 2 seats in Haryana, but due to complaints of violation of voting secrecy, the counting of votes was halted for about 5 hours. In the end, Sanjay Bhatia of BJP and Karmaveer Boudh of Congress won one seat each. Independent candidate Satish Nandal had to face defeat. In the counting of votes, Sanjay Bhatia got 31 votes, Karmaveer Boudh got 28 votes and Satish Nandal got 27 votes. Congress candidate Karmaveer Boudh won by one vote.

Win unopposed on 26 seats

The Election Commission of India had last month announced elections for 37 Rajya Sabha seats from 10 states. Of these, voting was not held on 26 seats in 7 states because there was only one candidate and he was elected unopposed. These include leaders like Sharad Pawar, Abhishek Manu Singhvi, Ramdas Athawale and Tiruchi Shiva.